The Dodgers ranked last in the majors in nearly every offensive statistic against left-handed pitching this season, including a batting average (.213) that was the lowest by a team for a full season in 45 years. They will face the Nationals’ only left-handed starter, Gio Gonzalez, in Game 3 Monday.

But the Dodgers’ deficiencies against left-handed pitching weren’t simply caused by a lineup leans heavily to the left with Corey Seager, Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Utley, Joc Pederson, Josh Reddick and Yasmani Grandal (a switch-hitter more dangerous when batting left-handed). It was as much about their right-handed hitters being unable – or unavailable to pick up the slack.

“I think that’s fair to say,” Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said before Game 2. “Left on left is already tough. We have some good left-handed hitters. You’re hoping they have good, quality at-bats against left-handed pitching and maybe draw some walks or get some singles. But you don’t really expect them to hit for a lot of power, left on left. You rely on your right-handers for damage.”

Three right-handed hitters, in particular, did little or none of the damage the Dodgers expected.

Trayce Thompson’s season ended at the All-Star break due to a back injury. He hit better against right-handed pitching anyway (a .749 OPS and 10 of his 13 home runs). Scott Van Slyke and Kiké Hernandez were counted on as platoon players against left-handed pitching in the past. But Van Slyke was limited to 52 games by injuries (including season-ending wrist surgery) and Hernandez failed to replicate his success against lefties despite consistently starting against them all year.

“(Thompson) addressed some of that power game early in the year,” Zaidi said. “We were hoping to get the same thing with Kiké — having his 2015 numbers against lefties would be nice.

“Those are three guys who coming out of spring training we expected would be in our everyday lineup versus lefties. … Everyone talks about how our depth has helped us overcome so many injuries overall. But it’s funny how they have kind of hit us in specific roles.”

Austin Barnes and Charlie Culberson made the postseason roster in large part because of the help they can provide against left-handed pitching (Barnes by freeing up backup catcher Carlos Ruiz) and Zaidi said the Dodgers have “refined our strategy a little bit” by becoming more aggressive with lineup choices against lefties as well as in-game strategy.

“During the regular season, you might let a matchup play out to give guys a chance (against a left-handed pitcher),” he said.

During the playoffs, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is more likely to pinch-hit in search of a more favorable matchup as he did with Howie Kendrick in Game 1.

New foe, same approach

Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal effusively praised pitcher Kenta Maeda, who will make his first postseason start Monday. After leaning heavily on his slider at the beginning of the year, Grandal said, Maeda persevered by mixing in his fastball and changeup to keep hitters off-balance. He finished the season 16-11 with a 3.48 earned-run average.

Could Maeda’s season-long evolution make him a more difficult opponent to scout for the Nationals, whom Maeda has never faced?

Grandal flashed a look of surprise.

“He didn’t? Great. Awesome,” Grandal said. “How about we talk about this after he pitches on Monday?”

For his part, Maeda said the lack of familiarity is less beneficial in the postseason than the regular season.

“Even though it’s the postseason, I’m going to pitch the way I did during the regular season,” he said through his interpreter. “You know, I’ve tried pitching max effort in the first few innings because I’ve been told that during the postseason, pitchers can be pulled out early. But I’ve done that in the past and it didn’t quite work out. So in terms of how I’m going to pitch tomorrow, I’m going to pitch the way I always do and pace accordingly.”

Pain in the forecast

After the final out was recorded, Grandal couldn’t hide his frustration with the postponement of Game 2 by one day.

“It kind of sucked,” Grandal said. “We would’ve really liked to have gotten that game in (Saturday) night but it didn’t happen. So you’ve got to feel comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s what we were today. We end up executing a couple pitches, we might come out with a win.”

Dodgers president Stan Kasten said there was “no controversy” when officials from the Dodgers, the Nationals and Major League Baseball agreed to postpone the game. A report provided by the National Weather Service foretold a storm that never materialized. The rain over Nationals Park abated within an hour after the game was postponed.

Sunday morning, Roberts had no qualms about the decision.

“To have the option to stick around till potentially 8 or 9, or just cancel the game and reschedule for today — I think that we were all in agreement that we should all just postpone and get the guys back to the hotel and get their guys back home and reset for (Sunday),” Roberts said.

Quick hits

When the Cleveland Indians’ game against the Boston Red Sox was rained out, the start time for Game 3 at Dodger Stadium was locked in for 1 p.m. … Maeda flew to Los Angeles in the morning, before the first pitch of Game 2, as did Gonzalez. … Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager has exactly one hit in five of his seven career postseason games, none in the other two.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.